How to Block Facebook's Beacon

Facebook's Beacon advertising program is supposed to be friends recommending products to friends. But it is more than that. Facebook’s Beacon program has been drawing fire because of the privacy issues surrounding it. Its controversial word-of-mouth advertising system may collect information about Internet users who are not members of Facebook. Here's how to block Facebook's Beacon.

Instructions

Difficulty: Easy

Things You’ll Need:

• A Facebook Account
• A web browser
• The Firefox web browser and the BlockSite addon

On Your Facebook Account

1. If you are a member of Facebook you can use the steps in Section One (plus Section Two if you want to be extra careful about what happens even when you're not signed in to Facebook). For people concerned about information collected by Facebook who are not actually members of Facebook, use the steps in Section Two.
2. Log in to your Facebook Account.
3. Click Privacy in the Facebook menu bar.
4. Look for the option called External Websites. Click the Edit Settings button next to External Websites.
5. Select the box next to "Don't allow any websites to send stories to my profile." Save.

Block Using Firefox

6. Download and install the Firefox add on Block-Site. (See link in Resources.)
7. In Firefox, go to Tools > Addons. When the dialog opens, select the puzzle piece icon representing Extensions.
8. Select Blocksite. While it is highlighted, click the Preferences button.
9. In the Preferences dialog, find the field for the Blacklist and click Add to add a site to the blacklist.
10. In the BlockSite box, type the following in the text field: http://*facebook.com/beacon/*. Be sure to include the wildcard symbol (*). Using the wildcards will block all kinds of content coming from that URL. Save.